Chapter 1175 The fox pretends to be the tiger’s power!

Late at night, three o'clock
Wang He was sleeping soundly in the tent of the Hojo army. Suddenly, he felt some noise beside him. The Da Zhou spy woke up immediately and subconsciously reached for the dagger beside him, but at this moment, a voice came from his ear.

'Sir Wang, it's me, Liu Hui...'

Wang He felt a little relieved when he heard the familiar voice, but he still looked at the source of the voice vigilantly. At the same time, a figure quietly slipped into Wang He's tent.

Seeing Liu Hui's sneaky look, Wang He frowned and asked:
"What happened?"

Facing Wang He's question, Liu Hui nodded without hesitation and said:
"Sir, I noticed that two hundred more people have been transferred to the vicinity of our camp!"

This statement immediately attracted Wang He's attention. He was shocked and immediately confirmed again:

"Is this true?"

"It's absolutely true. They were transferred here tonight. Moreover, these two hundred men are not ordinary foot soldiers. They seem to be the elite troops of the Hojo family. They are the subordinates of Ito Jun'ya, the adopted son of Hojo River!"

"Did they give any reason?"

"No! Just said it was a normal defense change and asked us not to mind it!"

Upon hearing this news, Wang He immediately had a bad feeling in his heart. He hesitated for a moment and nodded slightly to Liu Hui and said:
"Tell the brothers to be careful and be ready to retreat at any time!"

"Sir, are you saying that Hojo River wants to cross the river and destroy the bridge?"

“We don’t know what happened yet, but we must be fully prepared…”

"I understand! I will spread the news right away!"

"See if Chen Gui is in the camp. If he is, ask him to come to my place!"

"Yes!"

As Liu Hui left the tent, Wang He, who was alone in the tent, no longer had any desire to sleep and began to think deeply.

Although I don’t know what happened and why these two hundred people were transferred here, it is a very dangerous signal no matter what!

Although Wang He didn't believe that Hojo Kawa had the courage to cross the river and destroy the bridge, for the sake of his own life, Wang He had to consider the possibility of leading his troops to escape under the cover of night!
You have to know that there are only more than a dozen guards and spies from the General Coordination Office around him. Therefore, if Hojo Kawa really wants to cross the river and destroy the bridge, Wang He will not be able to confront him head-on. Therefore, running away becomes the only and last resort!

Thinking of this, Wang He became more and more determined to leave now. He had been thinking in the Hojo army that a major war would break out in Bangtao this time, so he brought his men to observe the battle, see the fighting situation of both sides, and then report to Ye Mingsheng!
But now with the shogunate army's active withdrawal to Hideta, the siege of Bangtao has been lifted. Based on the current situation, Wang He judged that the possibility of a fierce battle between the two sides over Bangtao City has been greatly reduced. In the future, the two sides are likely to enter a period of strategic stalemate, so there is little point in him staying in the Hojo army now!

Although he intended to run away right now, after thinking for a while Wang He decided that he should remain patient for the time being. At least he should listen to Chen Gui’s report before running away to see what he had learned from the Hojo Army...

Although he didn't know what had happened, Wang He had a hunch that the sudden appearance of 200 elite foot soldiers was most likely related to the guest that Hojo Kawa met after him!

At that time, Wang He and Hojo Kawa were facing each other. Although Hojo Kawa tried to conceal it, Wang He could still see the surprise and surprise when Hojo Kawa heard the name from the guard!
Therefore, Wang He believed that this person must be a very important person, so after the meeting with Hojo Kawa, Wang He sent his subordinate Chen Gui to the Hojo army to understand the situation. Now several hours have passed, and Wang He is looking forward to Chen Gui bringing back some news for him!
After waiting for about half an hour, just when Wang He was about to lose his patience, a fat man reeking of alcohol walked into his tent.

This person was Chen Gui, a subordinate of Wang He. He was originally a small trader. Wang He saw that he was good at socializing, had a good alcohol tolerance, and could speak the Dongdao language, so he absorbed him into the General Coordination Office and put him in charge of communicating with the generals of the Hojo army and extracting some intelligence from them.

Although he was a little drunk, Chen Gui's small eyes still revealed a hint of shrewdness. Facing Wang He's gaze, he burped and said directly:

“Sir, I made Kamada Daichi’s grandson drink five or six bottles of sake, but he just wouldn’t tell me who Hojo Kawa met…”

Wang He couldn't help but flash a hint of disappointment when he heard this, but at this moment, the drunk Chen Gui said intermittently:

"Even though Kamada Daichi didn't say anything, my deputy general, Doan Ritsuko, wasn't as tight-lipped as him. I stuffed a gold bracelet into his pocket and he told me everything he knew!"

"The person that Hojo Kawa met after you today was an envoy from the shogunate. This person came to negotiate peace with Hojo Kawa. I don't know how this person was so eloquent that he actually moved Hojo Kawa. Now Hojo Kawa has gone to Bangtao City to discuss peace talks with the shogunate with Watanabe Taketake!"

Before Chen Gui's words fell, Wang He's mood sank to the bottom when he thought about the 200 elite foot soldiers who were quietly deployed to his side.

Wang He had always been wary of the peace talks between the shogunate and Hojo Watanabe, but the shogunate's actions were much faster than he expected. If his guess was correct, an important condition for the peace talks between the two sides would be related to him!
Thinking of this, Wang He did not hesitate and said:

"Chen Gui, I will remember your contribution, but there is no time to rest now. Pack up and leave now!"

"Are you leaving now, sir?" Chen Gui asked in surprise:

"Why do you want to stay?"

“Sir, why should I stay here? Sir, I will go with you now…”·······························
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Just as Wang He was busy running away, a fierce quarrel broke out between Hojo Kawa and Watanabe Yutake in a room in Bangtao City!

"Hojo-kun! Are you crazy? Surrender to the shogunate at this time?"

"Watanabe-kun, this is not surrender! This is peace talks! Peace talks!"

"Is this any different from surrender? Do you really think the shogunate will let us go? You and I have both seen how the Toyotomi family handles betrayal!"

"Minamino family, have you forgotten how the Taniguchi family was destroyed? You and I both participated in that battle!"

Facing the question that Watanabe Taketake asked directly to the core of the matter, Hojo Kawa was immediately silenced. After a long pause, he said:

"Muto-kun promised me! As long as we hand over those Zhou people, the shogunate will not hold us responsible!"

Watanabe Yuwu snorted disdainfully and said:
"Don't you understand yet, Hojo-kun?"

"The original power structure of the shogunate has been completely broken by this battle. Muto-kun has been marginalized in the shogunate. The real head of the shogunate is Ishihara Nobuyuki!"

"Ishihara Nobuyuki hates us nobles to the core. He wants to chop off our heads one by one to realize his bullshit ideals!"

"If we believe his tricks and hand over those Zhou people to them and let them surrender to the shogunate again, regardless of whether we will offend the Great Zhou or Ye Mingsheng, I am sure that Ishihara Nobuyuki's prestige in the shogunate will be even higher. By then, he will have all the power and will take a few years to recuperate before coming back to attack us. What should we do?"

“By then, without the military aid of the Great Zhou, how can we resist the shogunate’s crusade?”

"And even if I am willing to stop the war, I am afraid that the other people in our Watanabe family will not be willing to stop the war. In order to defend Bangtao Castle, too many of our Watanabes died and paid too much. Now that your Hojo family's reinforcements have arrived, they are all excited and clamoring for the shogunate army to fight bloody battles and pay with blood."

In the face of the problem pointed out by his old friend Watanabe Taketake, Hojo Kawa fell silent again. In fact, he had also thought about what Watanabe Taketake said, but the problem was that he really couldn't see the hope of winning the battle at the moment, so he wanted to end the war as soon as possible.
The two sat opposite each other in silence for half a cup of tea, and then Beijo Kawa spoke again:
"Muto Masaaki told me that these Zhou people didn't come for him. Revenge for Akiyama Morie was just an excuse for the Zhou people!"

"The real purpose of the Zhou people is to tear East Island apart, cause endless wars, and plunge it into serious internal friction. Therefore, those Zhou people don't want to see us win at all, so they use military aid to control the progress of our war. If we are in the upper hand, they will reduce or even cut off military aid. If we are in the disadvantageous position, they will increase military aid to let us continue to fight!"

At this point, Hojo Kawa paused, then looked at Watanabe Taketake and said solemnly:
"I think what Muto Masaaki said makes sense! The fact is that if Wang He could fulfill his promise, Watanabe-kun and I would not be in Bangtao now, but holding a celebration banquet in Heian-kyo!"

"After fighting for so long, both of our families are almost exhausted. The hope of winning is slim, so why don't we stop and take a breath before making plans."

Hojogawa's decisive words also moved Watanabe Yumu. After pondering for a while, he compromised and said:
"Okay! I agree to peace talks! But we can't hand Wang He and the others over. That's the bottom line!"

“No matter what conspiracy these Zhou people have! But keeping them will always be able to check and balance the shogunate, so that the bastard Ishihara Nobuyuki will not dare to act rashly...”

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March 19, night
Ye Mingsheng of Jiyuyujing looked at the book in his hand for a while, and asked Zhao Wanxian in the hall with interest:
"how did you do it?"

Facing Ye Mingsheng's inquiring gaze, Zhao Wanxian said without hesitation:
"The fox pretends to be the tiger's power!"

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this answer, Ye Mingsheng became even more interested, and Zhao Wanxian did not keep him in suspense and said directly:

"That group of people are not afraid of me, but they are afraid of the Marshal's majesty! Therefore, I used the Marshal's majesty to provoke them and made some progress!"

Seeing that Zhao Wanxian's words were vague, Ye Mingsheng also understood that his methods might not be too fair and could not be put on the table!
However, Ye Mingsheng didn't care about this. After all, as the old saying goes, it takes a bad man to deal with a good villain. For a high-ranking official like the governor, sometimes one needs to be flexible in doing things. It is not a good thing to stick to the rules blindly!
Of course, although such things can be ignored, it is not encouraged to play such edge balls, so Ye Mingsheng did not say much, but put down the booklet in his hand, and then instructed Zhao Wanxian;

"I'm a little tired after traveling so long today. Wanxian, you should go back and have a rest too!"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng say this, Zhao Wanxian was a little unsure about Ye Mingsheng's decision for a while, but he could only bow and accept the order:
“I obey your command…”

After he finished speaking, Zhao Wanxian bowed and left the room, then got on the carriage back home. Sitting in the carriage, Zhao Wanxian closed his eyes, recalling every word and every move of Ye Mingsheng just now!
Although he was somewhat skeptical that Ye Mingsheng's attitude would change, Zhao Wanxian firmly believed that what he did was in line with the Marshal's wishes!

Sun Jing'an's case implicated Jiang Yuyan, and this woman Jiang Yuyan implicated almost half of the officials in Hebei and Henan.

Although the Marshal wanted to punish these people, Ji and Yu were the biggest financial pillars of the court. The court's finances were already very tight, so if there was turmoil in Ji and Yu, there was no doubt that the court's finances would be even worse. That was why the Marshal focused on the overall situation and suppressed the matter.

From the way the Marshal dealt with Jiang Yuyan, we can get a glimpse of the whole situation, which is why Zhao Wanxian is so pleased with the emperor!

Zhao Wanxian first dealt with Zhao Tao, the deputy governor of Hebei and Henan, with thundering means to intimidate the people in Hebei and Henan, and then took out the account book obtained from Jiang Yuyan and began to knock on everyone one by one.

Under Zhao Wanxian's operation, this group of people, while resigning, also donated almost all of the stolen money through businessmen related to them.

In just over ten days, Zhao Wanxian earned 600,000 taels of silver and ensured that there was no major turmoil in the overall situation in Hebei and Henan!
Zhao Wanxian was personally very satisfied with his operation. He originally wanted to take credit for it from Ye Mingsheng, but now it seemed that the Marshal’s reaction was a little cold...
(End of this chapter)